kenshinfandomcom-20200223-history
Trust
Rurouni Kenshin: Trust & Betrayal, known in Japan as Rurouni Kenshin: Tsuiokuhen (追憶編 Recollection or Reminiscence?), is a four-part OVA that serves as a prequel to the ''Rurouni Kenshin'' anime series. It premiered in Japan in 1999, and was directed by Kazuhiro Furuhashi and written by Masashi Sogo. It was later dubbed into English by ADV Films and distributed to home video initially under the title Samurai X: Trust & Betrayal for its international release. Later on, the OVA was re-released as a compilation "Director's Cut" movie that features an altered soundtrack and an extended ending sequence. The OVA series is based on chapters 165 to 179 of the ''Rurouni Kenshin'' manga written and illustrated by Nobuhiro Watsuki. It chronicles the story of Himura Kenshin as the Hitokiri Battōsai during the years of the Meiji Restoration while also revealing the origins of his famous cross-shaped scar, as well as his role as a legendary assassin of the Imperialist cause; and explaining his relationship with a woman named Yukishiro Tomoe, who would become his first wife. Kenshin's fated first encounters with his master, Hiko Seijūrō XIII, and his future rival, Saitō Hajime, are also depicted.[1] Since its release, the OVA series has received near-universal critical acclaim from various critics and publications for manga, anime and other media. It remains highly popular among anime fans and it is considered as one of the greatest OVA series of all time.[ Plot While a raid of bandits slay a group of travelers, a young boy named Shinta is saved from death by a passing swordsman. The swordsman, known as Hiko Seijūrō, is a master of the Hiten Mitsurugi-ryū, the strongest of all sword forms. Hiko takes Shinta as an apprentice and renames him Himura Kenshin, a name which he felt was more appropriate for a swordsman. After years of training, Kenshin leaves his master, convinced that the only way to uphold the Hiten Mitsurugi's pledge to help the weak and innocent is to join the revolution poised to upend the Tokugawa Shogunate. He joins the Chōshū clan and soon works for their leader, Katsura Kogorō, as an assassin. Kenshin soon becomes a hardened killer, feared far and wide as the Hitokiri Battōsai. During a successful assassination, he kills a bodyguard named Kiyosato Akira. The encounter with Kiyosato leaves Kenshin with the first half of his cross-shaped scar. After killing a skilled assassin, Kenshin meets a woman named Yukishiro Tomoe, unaware of the fact that she is the Kiyosato's fiancée. Kenshin takes her to the inn where he and the men of the Chōshū clan are residing. Katsura suspects a spy among the Chōshū after Kenshin informs him of the assassin he killed. After the Ikedaya incident, Katsura arranges for Kenshin and Tomoe to hide in the village of Otsu as husband and wife, so the two would not be suspected. After a few months, Tomoe's brother, Yukishiro Enishi, comes to visit and secretly reveals to his sister that the shogunate agents assigned to track down and kill Kenshin are close by, and that her revenge will soon be complete. Tomoe sends Enishi off, feeling ill at ease. It is here that Tomoe realises that she has fallen in love with Kenshin, and he with her. The next morning, Tomoe leaves the house and tries to deceive the shogunate men into giving up their pursuit of Kenshin; when this fails, she unsuccessfully attempts to kill their leader. After Tomoe's disappearance, Kenshin is visited by a comrade who tells him that the spy was Tomoe and that she is meeting at that moment with her co-conspirators. He also reveals to Kenshin that she is the fiancée of Kiyosato, the man he killed. Kenshin, however, is unaware that it is this man who is the real spy. While heading to Tomoe's location, a heavily-shocked Kenshin faces and kills three of the four shogunate agents but becomes badly injured due to his traumatized state. While Kenshin is fighting with the last agent (a fist fighter), Tomoe steps in between the two to protect Kenshin from the killing punch. This allows Kenshin to kill the agent but, in doing so, unintentionally impales Tomoe also. Before her death, she gives him the second part of his cross-shaped wound. Kenshin, blaming himself for Tomoe's death, swears to fight to bring about the age desired by Katsura, but after that to continue fighting to protect the innocent without killing again. Katsura informs Kenshin that he had a new assassin kill the real spy. As the Tokugawa Shogunate is nearing its end, Kenshin has his first encounter with the Shinsengumi captains Okita Sōji and Saitō Hajime, his future rival. It is then revealed that once the Bakumatsu revolution had ended, the Hitokiri Battōsai had disappeared without a trace. Differences from the Manga Trust & Betrayal features several differences from the flashback chapters in the Rurouni Kenshin manga. Perhaps the most obvious change is the OVA's lack of humorous moments that the manga and anime are famous for, which is largely due to the OVA's more "realistic" style and design. Other differences include: *'Kenshin's first scar': In the OVA, after Kenshin receives the first half of his cross-shaped scar on his face from Tomoe's fiancee, the wound rather symbolically bleeds over and over again with each subsequent kill he commits for a while. In the manga, however, the scar does not bleed again after Kenshin first receives it. *'Tomoe's personality': In the manga, Tomoe is portrayed as being a very emotionally-reserved character who typically keeps her thoughts to herself and rarely smiles, even before her fiancee is murdered by Kenshin. The OVA's version of Tomoe is similar to this, but still much more emotional. *'The Ikedaya incident': In the manga, this massacre occurs while Kenshin and Tomoe are relaxing together at the Chōshū clan's inn. In the OVA, Kenshin and Tomoe are out enjoying a festival in Kyoto before Kenshin learns of this ambush and attempts to assist his comrades, but arrives too late. *'Kenshin and Tomoe's marriage': In the manga, Kenshin outright proposes to Tomoe before they leave Kyoto and states that he does not want their marriage to be just a charade for their living-together in the country. The OVA, however, lacks this scene and their marital status afterwards is made less clear. The English dub of the OVA seems to make it appear even more so that they are not officially married. *'Kenshin and Tomoe's last night together': In the manga, Kenshin and Tomoe spend their last night together in their home sitting in front of a fire and wrapped up in the same blanket. The OVA version of this features more of a love scene, and in the English dub Kenshin asks Tomoe if she'll marry him "really". *'Kenshin's grave discovery': In the manga, Kenshin does not find out that he killed Tomoe's fiancee until after her death. In the OVA, he learns of this before he heads out to try to save her from the Shogunate agents and is in a state of shock while fighting off these enemies. His scar notably starts bleeding again after he makes this discovery in the OVA. *'Kenshin's second scar': In the OVA, Tomoe purposely cuts the second half of Kenshin's cross-shaped scar on his face with her dagger before she dies in his arms. In the manga, however, Tomoe seemingly cuts Kenshin's cheek by accident as she falls into his arms after being struck down by his sword. *'Tomoe's funeral': In the manga, Kenshin buries Tomoe off-screen in a Kyoto cemetery, which he would revisit years later to pay his respects. In the OVA, however, Tomoe's body is cremated when Kenshin burns down their house, along with the spinning top he had kept since childhood, as he returns to Kyoto. English dub errors *Kenshin is only ever referred to as "The Assassin" in the dub by his enemies, rather than "Battōsai". *Tomoe's name is pronounced "Tomo" in the dub. *Okita refers to Saitō as "Master" in the dub, even though they were of equal rank within the Shinsengumi despite their age difference. *The Shinsengumi and Mibu Wolfs are stated to be two separate factions in the dub, instead of the same. *As previously stated, Kenshin and Tomoe's marriage is seemingly portrayed in the dub as unofficial. *Kenshin states to Katsura after Tomoe's death in the dub that he will never wield a sword again after the end of the Meiji Revolution, rather than stating that he will simply never kill again after the war ends (as his later use of a Sakabatō would allow him to continue being a swordsman without the risk of killing again). Category:OVA Category:Anime